TUPAC Shakur would have been 50 years old today.
The rapper was born on June 16, 1971, in Harlem in New York City, and died at 25 years old when he was fatally shot on September 13, 1996. Friends and fans are remembering him on what would have been his birthday, including Jada Pinkett Smith, who shared a previously private poem of his.
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Jada Pinkett Smith and Tupac Shakur were friendsCredit: GettyDid Tupac Shakur and Jada Pinkett Smith have a relationship?
Tupac and Jada attended The Baltimore School of Arts together in the 1980s, according to Insider.
In an interview with The Breakfast Club in early 2020, Jada’s now-husband, Will Smith, admitted their friendship made him jealous.
When host Charlamagne Tha God asked Will if he was ever jealous of "the love Jada had for Tupac,” the Fresh Prince actor replied, “F*** yea.”
Were Tupac Shakur and Jada Pinkett Smith ever together?
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Jada shared a poem Tupac wrote on what would have been his 50th birthdayCredit: Getty Images - Getty“That was in the early days," Will continued.
“That was a big regret for me. They grew up together but they never had a sexual relationship but now they had come into that age where that was a possibility, and Jada was with me."
"I was deeply insecure and I wasn't man enough to handle that relationship," he confessed.
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Tupac was shot to death at 25 years oldCredit: GettyWhat was the Tupac Shakur poem Jada Pinkett Smith shared?
In an Instagram video shared before his birthday in June 2021, Jada spoke a little bit about the friendship she shared with the rapper.
"Over the years, Pac wrote me many letters and many poems,” the Red Table Talk host explained. “I don't think this one has ever been published, honestly.”
“I was like, 'I don't think he would have minded if I shared this with you guys.' "
She thought the poem might be the original concept for his song "Lost Souls," and theorized that he may have written it while imprisoned on Rikers Island in New York.
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Jada told her Instagram followers she didn't think Tupac would mind her sharing the poemCredit: AP:Associated PressLost Soulz - T. Shakur
The poem reads:
"Some say nothing gold can last forever
And 2 believe this (I) need no proof
I have witnessed all that was pure in me
Be changed by the evil men can do
The innocence possessed by children
Once lived inside my soul
But surviving years with criminal peers
has turned my warm heart to cold
I used 2 dream and fantasize
But now I'm scared 2 sleep
petrified, not to live or die
But to awaken and still be me
It is true that nothing gold can last
We will all one day see death
When the purest hearts are torn apart
Lost souls are all that's left
Down on my knees I beg of God
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to save me from this fate
Let me live to see what was gold in me
Before it is all too late."
Will Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith invites actor's ex Sheree Zampino on Red Table Talk after August Alsina cheating scandal
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Will Smith is getting very honest about his feelings of jealousy during the early stages of his relationship with Jada Pinkett Smith — and particularly how he felt toward her friendship with Tupac Shakur.
If you didn’t know, Jada and Tupac — who was killed in a shooting in 1996 — shared an exceptionally close friendship. The two attended the Baltimore School for the Arts together and quickly became inseparable after connecting over their shared passion for theatrical arts.
Despite years of speculation around whether or not there was more to their friendship, both Jada and Tupac confirmed several times that things between them were platonic. In 2017, Jada revealed that she and Tupac had gotten into a “hardcore” fight before his death, and weren't speaking when he was killed.
Twitter: @jadapsmithNow, in his newly released memoir, Will has weighed in on how their friendship impacted him, admitting that he felt “tortured” by the bond that Jada and Tupac shared.
“In the beginning of our relationship, my mind was tortured by their connection,” Will writes. “He was 'PAC! and I was me … though they were never intimate, their love for each other is legendary.”
Will writes that he felt jealous of Tupac’s “fearless passion” and “militant morality,” which he would compare to his own inability to stand up to his father — with whom Will shared a turbulent relationship, due to his father's pattern of “violent” behavior and alcohol use.
As a result, Will writes, he felt insecure and cowardly against the late rapper. What’s more, Will compares Tupac to his younger brother Harry, who would often stand up to their abusive father, noting that he felt inadequate in comparison to both.
“[Tupac] was like Harry,” he writes. “[He] triggered the perception of myself as a coward. … I hated that I wasn't what he was in the world, and I suffered a raging jealousy: I wanted Jada to look at me like that.”
Will goes on to share that he felt an odd happiness when his and Jada’s relationship began to progress, meaning she’d spend less time with Tupac — which he called a “twisted kind of victory.”
“If she chose me over Tupac, there was no way I could be a coward,” he writes. “I have rarely felt more validated. I was in a room with Tupac on multiple occasions, but I never spoke to him. The way Jada loved 'Pac rendered me incapable of being friends with him. I was too immature.”
This isn’t the first time Will has spoken about his feelings of insecurity over Jada and Tupac’s friendship. Just last year, the actor admitted he could “never open up” around the late rapper, in a candid interview with The Breakfast Club.
“I could never open up to interact with Pac,” Will said. “You know, because we had a little bit of a thing. You know, they grew up together and they loved each other, but they never had ... a sexual relationship.”
“I was so Jealous of Pac that it kept me from ever even speaking to him,” he captioned an Instagram post from the interview.
Despite the early days of jealousy, Will and Jada’s relationship progressed, and the two were married in 1997. Ever since, the Hollywood couple — who now share two children, Jaden, 23, and Willow, 20 — have been very open about their tumultuous relationship.
Perhaps most notably, Jada and Will attracted a ton of attention last July after they publicly addressed rumors of infidelity in their marriage, during an episode of Red Table Talk.
The rumors circulated after singer August Alsina said he'd had a relationship with Jada in 2015 — with Will’s permission. He alleged: “I actually sat down with Will and had a conversation. Due to the transformation from their marriage to life partnership that they have spoken on several times, and not involving romanticism, he gave me his blessing.”
Before Jada addressed her relationship with August, she and Will revealed that they’d actually separated indefinitely at the time — after which she’d found herself in an “entanglement” with August. Jada later clarified that this had been a romantic relationship.
Earlier this year, Will publicly commented on his and Jada’s relationship for the first time since this discussion — revealing that both of them have, with mutual agreement, engaged in other sexual relationships outside of the marriage.
Speaking with GQ, Will admitted that he and Jada held conflicting opinions on monogamy due to their different upbringings, which had rocked their relationship at various points.
“Jada never believed in conventional marriage … Jada had family members that had an unconventional relationship,” Will said. “So she grew up in a way that was very different than how I grew up.”
“We have given each other trust and freedom, with the belief that everybody has to find their own way,” he added. “And marriage for us can’t be a prison. And I don’t suggest our road for anybody. ... But the experiences that the freedoms that we’ve given one another and the unconditional support, to me, is the highest definition of love.”
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Yaki Kadafi | |
Died | November 10, 1996 (aged 19) Orange, New Jersey, U.S. |
Genres | Hip hop, gangsta rap, West Coast hip hop |
Occupation(s) | Rapper |
Years active | 1994–1996 |